Tufts Library offers resources on mental illness

People who are mentally ill often don't seek help because the condition carries a stigma, according to Karen Gromis, events coordinator for the National Alliance on Mental Illness of Massachusetts.

By Ed Bakerebaker@wickedlocal.com

People who are mentally ill often don’t seek help because the condition carries a stigma, according to Karen Gromis, events coordinator for the National Alliance on Mental Illness of Massachusetts.

“Roughly 50 percent of the people in this state with a mental illness go untreated,” Gromis said. “We hope to start a dialogue.”

Gromis said mental illness affects families of all backgrounds and ethnicities.

“It’s an equal opportunity disease,” she said. “It is important we all talk about it. There is a reluctance to do so because people don’t understand it. A lot of that is because there is a stigma about mental illness and the only time we hear about it when there is a tragedy like what happened at Sandy Hook (Elementary School in Newton, Conn.)”

Gromis said resources for people regarding mental illnesses are available at Tufts Library in observance of Bebe Moore Campbell National Minority Mental Health Awareness Month. Bebe Moore, co-founder of the Los Angeles branch of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, sought to eradicate the stigma of mental illness in minority communities, according to Matt Ellis, spokesman for the Massachusetts NAMI chapter.

Ellis said Congress has proclaimed July as Bebe Moore Campbell National Minority Health Awareness Month annually in her memory since 2008.

“The purpose was to improve access to mental health treatment for minorities,” Ellis said. “The state chapters of NAMI use public libraries because they feel the public would be best served because libraries are book-entailed and they are a magnet in communities. The common message is to make people aware of treatment options and the best way to do that is on the community level.”

Some of the resources available on a Tufts display table in the reference section are “I Am Not Sick, I Don't Need Help! How to Help Someone with Mental Illness Accept Treatment” by Xavier Amador, “Shadows in the Sun: Healing from Depression and Finding the Light Within” by Gayathri Ramprasad, “When Someone You Love is Bipolar: A Step-by-Step Approach,” by Cynthia G. Last and “The Family Guide to Mental Health Care,” by Dr. Lloyd I. Sederer.

Tufts reference librarian Maura Deady said the books are normally stocked in the library’s consumer health collection, which attracts a lot of interest from patrons.

“Consumer health (book) collections tend to be popular across the board,” she said.

Deady said additional books and pamphlets on understanding bipolar disorder and schizophrenia would be on the display table for patrons to review.

“The books will be on the table up until July 18,” she said.

The display table also features a step-by step guide by Belisa Lozano-Vranich and Jorge R. Petit for Latino families to recognize depression and overcome it.

Gromis said depression strikes one out of five families in the nation and NAMI wants to assist these households.

“We want to start a dialogue with them,” she said.

Gromis said families could learn more about mental illness or its symptoms by contacting the Massachusetts chapter of NAMI at 800-370-9085.

“Our mission is to improve the quality of life for people who have mental illness,” she said. “We do this through support groups and we advocate at the state and local level to get more funding for mental health awareness.”

Gromis said people with mental health problems tend to function better in their community than being institutionalized when they have sufficient resources. More information about NAMI and mental illness is available online.

Deady said the library staff members are glad to assist NAMI in helping local families who might have a mentally ill member.

“We are in the business of providing access to information,” she said. “This is a great way for us to get people access to what they need and to raise the profile of the (NAMI) organization and awareness of the issue of mental illness.”